I’m moblogging on the train home from NYC with my can’t live without broadband modem and I am, in a word, juiced. It struck me in the middle of this really amazing Lessig-Benkler-Scoble-Boyd-Jarvis-Sifry-Rosen-etc. fest that as much as I love the asynchronous connecting and learning that happens when I read their work and their blogs, this f2f stuff still has immense power for me. I mean, I would gladly take a seminar course with any one of these people because of the energy that happens in meatspace. My brain hurts just listening to the ideas and observations that they all bring to the table. Even so, I know conferences like these are somewhat of an aberration.
A few quotes that made me take notice:
Lawrence Lessig: “I’m optimistic about the way in which the copyright conversation has evolved.”
Eric Schmidt, Google CEO: “People who are searching are people who are learning. And learning is always a part of a good life.”
Yochai Benkler: “We are beginning to learn what it means to have social production of the public sphere.”
Thomas Friedman: “The role of education in this world is “navigation” (as in helping student learn to navigate the many complexities of a Read/Write World.)
Seth Godin: “The really good news is that we can start electing people we are proud of.”
By many: The idea that the big change that is upon us is that the ability to participate is getting cheaper and easier all of the time.
I know all is not rosy with the world, that there are still huge inequities, that the world is not getting flat for everyone, that politicians are currently simply playing at Web 2.0, and that the underlying structures haven’t moved very far. But, recent pessimism in this blog aside, I’m leaving this day feeling pretty up about the prospects in general.
Check out the rest of the blogging from the conference at Technorati.
And just one note before the giddiness wears off. How cool is it to be able to connect via Skype with someone from England while on a train moving through the New Jersey countryside? I know, I know. I’m very, very lucky. But it helps me imagine a day…
It feels like the synergy you can sense in the TED Talks–that thinkers are coming together from all walks of life to really rethink what we are doing in schools, and rethinking it in a deep and meaningful way.
I can’t wait to see where all this goes.
Thanks for sharing.